Bloody War… run for cover!

Simon Appleby has reviewed Terry Grimwood’s “Bloody War” over at the “Bookgeeks” website. He writes:

“…Pete is a fine hero; an everyman driven by righteous anger and the compassion to protect not just himself or his family, but anyone he can. His understanding that he is risking his own safety trying to do what is right and just – and suffering accordingly – resonates with the reader. He is far from perfect and when his courage is tested it sometimes wavers, the reader is silently asked whether they would do the same, making this reviewer really care for his fate. The plot strides with perfectly judged pace, the tension and horror escalating from scene to scene… “

Meanwhile, over at Theaker’s Quarterly, John Greenwood (who has been gaining something of a reputation recently as a no-punches-pulled reviewer!) has given Bloody War the once-over and we feel we have survived with dignity, although perhaps in need of medical attention. John writes:

“What the author is good at is painting his protagonist into ever tighter corners. He’s at his best imagining the details of, say, how his exhausted man might cope with rowing a tiny boat across a strong current, or how one might go about dressing a flesh-wound in the heat of battle given no practical experience of first-aid, or evade the secret police in WHSmith. These moments of desperate concentration are precisely imagined, and one has the impression that the author is keen to get the details right…

The plot is tightly wound, and rolls out neatly from its original premise with considerable momentum. The protagonist single-mindedly pursues his goal, and everything is tied up carefully at the end. There are no dangling tangents or flabby chunks of dialogue left lying around. It kept me interested enough to find out what on earth was going on…”

As ever, we at Eibonvale extend our thanks to these and all other reviewers for having taken the time to analyse the books in such depth, and recommend everyone to follow the links above to their individual websites to read the full extent of their views in context. Let’s respect and enjoy this free speech and democracy thing while we still can!